Water Conservation

Water conservation is becoming more of an issue everyday. The planet is in the midst of what the United Nations is calling a “water crisis” as the supply of fresh drinking water dwindles. As members of the plumbing trade, we are all aware of the move to conserve water. Especially clean drinking water.

And flying in the face of water conservation some homeowners have installed water powered sump pumps that waste 500 to 600 gallons of fresh drinking water per hour to pump out sump pit water. At a time when the country and the world is looking for ways to save every drop of fresh drinking water, it seems short-sighted to install a water powered sump pump. These pumps can be wasting millions of gallons of fresh drinking water per year. This is why the correct acronym for a water-powered sump pump should be WWSP (Water-Wasting Sump Pump).

These WWSP’s operate by taking the energy in municipal- supplied water at full pressure and running it through a venturi device, positioned on the bottom of a sump pit in a basement. When the pump is activated, approximately 600 gallons per hour (GPH) is released in the sump pit. Most WWSP models then pull up 1 gallon of waste water for each gallon of fresh water used. The combined 1,200 gallons of water are then pumped into a sewer. From this point, the municipality must process all of the water. In flooding conditions, the processing of this added water creates additional problems.

Here is a very possible scenario: After months of drought in your area there is a short rain storm that knocks out the supply of electrical power. Without power, the primary sump pumps in the community will not operate, so hundreds, if not thousands of water- powered sump pumps automatically turn on, as they were designed to. Each home is now consuming 600 GPH of fresh water to keep its basement dry. This extraordinary amount of water is silently drawn out of your limited water reserves, and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. It’s like a huge water main break with no shutoff valve. The sudden loss of water from your reservoir could be devastating.

And not only do they waste precious drinking water, they pose a serious health risk to the homeowner. Since all water-powered pumps must be connected directly to the water supply, they must have backflow protection.

Unfortunately, many are installed without. Should there be a loss of positive water pressure coming from the water supply, water flow can reverse and flow from the home and rush backwards into the water pipes connecting the home to the community – which may result in contaminated water being sucked back into the fresh water drinking supply, causing a substantial health risk.

In the December 2008 edition of the PHCC Connection (PHCC is the national association of Plumbing Heating and Cooling Contractors), current PHCC president Joe Schmitt alerted contractors to this fact - and explained how backflow and RPZ (reverse pressure zone) devices are critical to public health.  "A mistake (in installing backflow devices) could take a life, a family, or the whole neighborhood." Needless to say, this issue goes beyond water conservation. 

So why pour fresh drinking water down the sewer and possibly risk your family’s life? There’s no need too; battery-powered backup sump pumps have been readily available for over 30 years. They’re reliable, don’t waste water and pose no health risk. Battery-powered pumps range from small add-on units to totally independent computerized monitoring systems. Some battery-powered backup pumps claim capacities up to 2,400 GPH at 10 ft. lift. Even in areas with high levels of water pressure, WWSPs can only remove 600 to 1,000 gallons of sump water. With so many options available in battery-powered systems, it seems that there really is no need for WWSPs.

Our Pro Series line of pumps includes the leading battery backup sump pumps as well. The PHCC Pro Series battery backup sump pump systems have unique monitoring systems that sound an alarm when maintenance is needed, alerting the homeowner when problems arise. After all, a backup sump pump system with a dead battery, loose cables, or a clogged pump is like having no backup at all.

Click here for our complete line our battery backup sump pump systems.

Learn more about water wasting water powered sump pumps here.